​Obama & Prince Charles in US talks, MidEast likely to top agenda

Heir to the throne Prince Charles is set to discuss his appraisal of powerful Arab royal families during talks with US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office on Thursday, as the finale of an overtly political trip to Washington.

During a tour of the
Middle East in February, the Prince of Wales met Arab rulers in
Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. As a result, he is seen by the
British government as well-placed to offer the US administration
counsel on important factors relating to the troubled region’s
stability.

In separate meetings on Capitol Hill, Prince Charles will also
meet the US Senate’s foreign relations committee and Republican
chief Mitch McConnell.

While sources report there is no specific agenda for the
scheduled talks, Her Majesty's Ambassador to the US, Sir Peter
Westmacott, said the meeting with Obama will be a “meaningful
discussion” in which Middle Eastern politics may well
surface.

“It’s a very critical issue with [the] Islamic State,”
Westmacott told the Guardian on Wednesday.

“And Charles knows these Gulf countries and families
incredibly well, so if I were the president I would be asking:
where do you think we are with the Gulf Arabs?”

The White House meeting in the president’s Oval Office occurs at
a particularly difficult time in UK-US relations. British foreign
policy has come under fire from US officials over the UK’s
decision to back a Chinese-led development bank.

Much to the American administration’s irritation, Australia has
also suggested it may follow the UK and New Zealand’s lead in
becoming a member.

Concerns have also reportedly surfaced in Washington that the
British government has taken a peripheral role in peace
negotiations relating to war-torn Ukraine.

Speaking to the Guardian, Westmacott acknowledged British and US
strategists’ divergent views over whether Britain was wise to
join the Asian development bank.

The move sparked a rare snub from the White House in light of the
bank’s perceived threat to the Washington-headquartered World
Bank. Nevertheless,
Westmacott suggested support from other European allied states
for the Asian bank is evidence of a multi-polar world.

Westcott, who became British Ambassador to the US in 2011, said
the British government’s outlook on China differs to that of the
US administration.

“There is a slight philosophical difference in that the Brits
in particular – the prime minister and George [Osborne] – take
the view that China is out there and you have got to engage with
it,” he told the Guardian.

“[With] the development bank, you may have reserves, but if
you get in on the ground floor you have a better chance of
pointing it in the right direction.”

Westcott said US officials don’t wish to engage with the Chinese
because they feel “they are dominant.”

“But they are dominant too in the World Bank, so this is a
bit of a turf box thing,” he added.

Shortly before his trip to the Middle East in February, it
emerged the Prince of Wales allegedly wants to end his role as a
promoter of British arms in Gulf States. The revelation came in
an unauthorized biography documenting Prince Charles’ life.

The biography, Charles: Heart of a King, claimed a source close
to the future monarch said he doesn’t appreciate “being used
to market weaponry.”

It was written by Catherine Mayer, an American-born, London-based
journalist.

Speaking to RT last week, Chris Ninham of the Stop the War
coalition said “hypocrisy is at the heart of UK foreign
policy.”

While the government publicly decries the Assad regime and other
rebel groups responsible for grave atrocities in Syria, UK
government policy has compounded the situation, Nineham said.

Despite a recent cooling of UK-US relations, the British Royal
family is perceived as a bridge between Westminster and
Washington. The Prince of Wales’ four-day visit to Washington,
organized by Buckingham Palace’s Clarence House, was reportedly
suggested by Britain’s Foreign Office.

As part of the trip, Prince Charles also gave a speech on Oceanic
pollution at a Washington-based conservation event.